Potty Training Update: There's Good News... And Bad News.

As promised, I went through with the push to potty train over the weekend. It was an adventure to say the least...

If only it really was all smiles...

I started the 72 hour potty training adventure on Friday morning. I knew if I had a shot in hell, I had to start while FTD was at work. The man LOVES to make Ollie laugh while he is trying to use the potty. He is a walking potty humor joke book. It's poop this, crack the porcelain that, fill the bowl... make a log cabin... it NEVER ends!

Sorry, that's a whole other post...

As some of you already know, Ollie has been using the potty off and on for about a year now. (Yes, a year, and he is still not fully potty trained.) About 98% of the time he only uses the potty because we ask him if he needs to go... For a while he was using the potty as an excuse to get out of doing something (bedtime), but has since learned new tricks for that, so he rarely asks to go. Recently, he has also been using the potty at school which lets me know, IT'S TIME!

I learned last week, if he has to go, and his diaper is off, he will go without being asked, so being the lazy mother that I am, I kicked off the 72 hour adventure with a free ballin' boy. That's right, I'd rather risk the house getting hosed, then having to CONSTANTLY ask him if he needs to go...

Three hours, four hundred trips to the potty and five rolls of toilet paper later, I was feeling very proud of my little guy. Every two minutes, he was off and running to let three drops out, then declare a victory. We would do the potty dance and move on... for two minutes until his next trip. I couldn't tell if he was stoked he could go, or if all that air made him feel like he had to go.

Either way, he was going.

By the time FTD got home Friday night, Ollie was a potty maniac. Albeit a streaking one. FTD was a little leery about the diaperless adventure, but he soon saw how good Ollie was at going on his own. Ollie was great, he even washed and dried his hand EVERY TIME! Day one was a successes in my book!

Day two was more of the same; diaperfree and wild with the potty. Until, we had to go out to an Oktoberfest party at the local German club. Still the ever lazy mother, I slapped a diaper on him, and off we went...

Good times.

You all, there were port-o-potties there. NO WAY WAS I USING ONE WITH A TODDLER!!! Can you imagine? We could have filled a lab with germs by the time we made it out of one. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of questions I'm sure Ollie would have had about the petri dish potty. Yes, I know my time will come to use one with him, but dammit, it WAS NOT going to be last Saturday at a beer drinking festival of Gremans/Austrians/Wild Americans! Hell to the NO!

So here is where we are after a weekend of focused training:

1. Ollie is happy to go as long as there's not the convenience of a diaper. Which means, he knows what he needs to do, he's just as lazy as his mommy.

2. Potty training is not for lazy people. It takes work on both parts. If you want to push your child to train before he/she is flat out asking to use the potty, then you are going to have to be just as dedicated as you want your child to be.

3. We are still in diapers. Though, when we are home he is not! I'm trying to teach him how to pull up and down loose shorts. I figure snug fitting underwear might confuse him into thinking he can just go...

Biggest lesson learned:

Potty training takes a lot of work, dedication and stages. We started with just learning about the potty, then learning to notice the sensation, then using the potty when the mood hit... now we are onto getting his pants up and down... and me not caving and doing it for him. Even if it means he nearly pees on me trying to get his damn pants off.

I wouldn't say this weekend was a fail since Ollie is not fully trained, and Ollie certainly didn't fail since this was all my idea, and he did go like a thousand times. Could I have been more diligent? Absolutely. Am I going to stay on him? Absolutely.

Two confused parents=One amused baby Hopelessly we are trying raise a baby who is clearly smarter than both of us. April is an award-winning writer, blogger and proud debut novelist - The Devlyn Disguise. Her work has been published in over ten countries and four languages. From books to newspapers, to print/online magazines and everything in between, you can find her work. For more about April, Visit AprilMcCormick.com

9
comments:

Christine
said...

Katie will go to the bathroom after shes peed or pooped, take off her diaper and make an announcement. Then sit on the pot and do nothing!

My almost 4 year old has been trained for a year. ONLY pee. She refuses to poop on the potty. If I don't give her a diaper she will hold it. Until she's in pain. It's been a year of me trying, nagging, begging, crying and I just recently gave up in hopes she will be ready on her own some day. I hope!!

We ended up having to let my son run around naked for an entire week expect when we went out of the house. It worked out great for us and he is now fully potty trained, even number 2. My son is a bit older than Ollie so if he doesn't get it now, try again in 6 months. Boys sometimes take a bit longer to mature and my pediatrician said only 30% of boys are fully potty trained by the age of 3.

We are at the exact same stage April! Will has been running around naked for the last week as well. :) He also goes on his own when there is no diaper in the way, although we have had a bit of a poop regression. He decided he didn't want to go poop on the potty so was trying to hold it in. However he did go tonight! so we will see what tomorrow brings. He also wears pullups whenever we go out. My next step is to get him to wear underwear and still ask to use the potty.(which he did tonight).